Mad Men: Episode 504 Mystery Date Commentary
This week’s episode of Mad Men is titled Mystery Date, a callback to a board game from the 60’s and 70’s. Matthew Weiner and Company connect this innocent board 다음드 game to a grisly murder – the mass killing of eight nursing students by Richard Speck in July of 1966. It’s a commentary, by way of odd couplings, on the traditional role of women in society at the threshold of great social change. In the case of Don, we see how his relationship to women in general, and Megan in particular, is evolving in the midst of this.
The episode opens with Don and Megan on their way to work. He has a horrible cough, but he’s not sick enough to tenderly flirt with his wife, who has moved to the other side of the car to avoid his germs.
This sets the stage for what has turned out to be a steady stream of awkward moments, with Don running into old flames. Andrea, a former freelancer – and lover – from the old Sterling Cooper, steps onto the elevator, and seeing Don alone, steps up to him. “Don, my bad penny,” she says. Don immediately introduces Megan as his wife. Andrea steps off at the next floor, leaving Don to deal with Megan’s embarrassment.
The conversation stretches into the first part of their day, with Don at first trying to justify himself, as in the days of old. But this is Megan, not Betty, and soon he is doing the right thing, apologizing for the position these encounters put her in. Finally, she nails Don, telling him “that kind of careless appetite, you can’t blame on Betty.” She stops him in his tracks because he knows she’s right. “I married you,” Don says. “And I’m going to be with you until I die.” Again with the death talk.